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Indeterminate Sentencing Structure

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Indeterminate Sentencing Structure
Robert Munoz Jr
CJAD 350
25 January 2015
Professor Carden

Rapid Changes in Sentencing Structures Judges in the United States used indeterminate sentencing for nearly 45 years. This type of sentencing has a set limit of incarceration that a convict may serve for the crime committed. If the judge gives an offender two to five years imprisonment, then that offender will serve a minimum of two years but will serve no more than five years. This system was put into place to make the offender in their release with good behavior in prison. With this in effect it gave offenders to rehabilitate in prison. With good behavior in prison it could release them sooner rather than later (depending on the procedure’s of the parole board). …show more content…
Many believed that ‘broad discretion produced arbitrary and capricious decisions and that racial and other invidious biases influenced officials’ (Tonry, 1999). Considering that many of those involved in the sentencing and releasing of prisoners are not subject to review, Tonry has a valid point. There is no set standard for indeterminate sentencing, so judges had fairly free reign as to sentences. And it seemed to some, that criminals of different races and classes were often given vastly different sentences for committing the same crime, otherwise known as sentencing disparity. Even though incarceration should be about rehabilitating prisoners and releasing them back into society as productive members, unfortunately it has become about politics. Those running for office always want to appear to be tough on crime, and indeterminate sentencing appears to some to be too soft. Allowing prisoners to earn their freedom before they have served their maximum sentence is not punishment in the eyes of those that believe prisoners should be locked up and made to do hard …show more content…
E., Latessa, E. J., & Ponder, B. S. (2013). Corrections in America. Boston: Pearson, Inc.

Attica Revisited. (2006). Retrieved from Talking History: http://www.talkinghistory.org/attica/

O 'Hear, M. (2011). Beyond Rehabilitation: A New Theory of Indeterminate Sentencing. Retrieved from Lexis Nexis: https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=48+Am.+Crim.+L.+Rev.+1247&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=f327de58bd6ca8f479356f7658da7248

Overview of Sentencing Reforms and Practices. (2000, June 19). Retrieved from Connecticut General Assembly Office of Program Review and Investigations: http://www.cga.ct.gov/pri/archives/2000fireportchap1.htm

Tonry, M. (1999, September). Reconsidering Indeterminate and Structured Sentencing. Retrieved from National Criminal Justice Reference Service:
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